Fluid pumps, and more particularly fuel pumps for pumping fuel, for example, from a fuel tank of a motor vehicle to an internal combustion engine of the motor vehicle, are known. A typical fuel pump includes a housing within which generally includes a pump section, a motor section, and an outlet section. The pump section includes an inlet plate, an outlet plate, and a pumping arrangement between the inlet plate and the outlet plate. The pumping arrangement is rotated by an electric motor located in the motor section, thereby causing fuel to be drawn into the housing through an inlet of the inlet plate and through an outlet passage of the outlet plate. The fuel then passes past the electric motor and exits the housing through an outlet of the outlet section. The fuel pump may be an impeller type fuel pump where the pumping arrangement is an impeller as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 8,556,568 to Fisher, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety or the fuel pump may be a gerotor-type fuel where the pumping arrangement is an inner gear rotor surrounded by an outer gear rotor as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,889 to Raney et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Alternatively, the fuel pump may be a vane-type fuel pump, a gear-type fuel pump, or a roller vane-type fuel pump.
Fuel pumps as described above are typically oriented with the pumping section oriented down, i.e. in the direction of gravity, while the outlet section is oriented up, i.e. away from gravity. Consequently, when the fuel pump is not operating, particulate matter that may be present in the fuel that has already exited the outlet passage of the outlet plate may settle downward, passing through the outlet passage of the outlet plate and depositing in the pumping arrangement. Foreign matter that settles in the pumping arrangement may lead to binding, fracturing, and increased wear of the pumping arrangement when the fuel pump is subsequently operated. Furthermore, the physics associated with the pumping arrangement moving the fuel from the inlet plate to the outlet plate may generate pressure pulsations which may propagate through the structure of the fuel pump, hoses, and fuel surrounding the fuel pump which may produce undesirable noise.
What is needed is a fuel pump which minimizes or eliminates one or more of the shortcomings as set forth above.